Every Patient's Advocate: Successful body repair may require a different specialist

The Post-StandardTrisha Torrey is Every Patient's Advocate, in The Post-Standard.

There's a leak underneath your kitchen sink. Will you call the electrician?

Your car makes a whining noise when you accelerate. Will you take it to a body shop?

You probably answered no to both questions. So consider this: just like the wrong home or car specialist cant repair the problem, the wrong medical specialist may not be able to fix whats wrong with your body.

I know someone who, several years ago, was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a painful condition that results from the discs in his spine squeezing against his spinal cord. In addition, this man suffers from neuropathy, a burning tingling in his feet, likely a result of the stenosis.

In 2008, he visited a neurologist who told him nothing could be done to relieve his pain, that he would just need to live with it, even as it became increasingly painful. Earlier this year, through some Internet research, this man learned there might be alternatives after all. He went to see an orthopedic surgeon who suggested he undergo a nerve block, an injection that could help relieve that excruciating pain.

Why didn't the neurologist mention a nerve block? We don't know.

Another person I know suffered for months from stomach pain, bloating and cramps. Her primary care doctor sent her to a gastroenterologist who ran tests, but concluded there was nothing wrong. The woman continued to suffer intermittently. Then, a few months later, she was admitted to the hospital with an intestinal blockage, only to learn that she had stage IV ovarian cancer. She died a few months later. Had she been seen earlier by a gynecologist, maybe her cancer could have been successfully treated.

That may sound odd. Our primary doctors should know exactly which specialist to send us to. Most of the time, they do. But sometimes a doctor makes the wrong choice. Unless we speak up, they wont even know to make another recommendation.

If your doctor has no suggestions, then do some research on your own. After all, its your body. Its up to you to keep pursuing the repair that fixes the problem.